Picking Up The Pieces
by KayyKayyBear
Summary: It's been over two years since the battle of Hogwart's and the defeat of Voldemort. Draco Malfoy has been doing everything to clear his name and almost everyone has forgiven him but himself. Hermione seems to have everything in her life put together perfectly. When their paths cross she feels the urge to pick up the pieces for Draco and help him put himself back together.


_Author's Note: Hi there! Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Please let me know what you think. Good and bad. It is all helpful. Also I do not own anything but my original characters and plots. Enjoy :)_

_**Chapter One**_

It still haunted me. His voice still whispered to me in my dreams. Speaking demands and threats. Terrorizing me even from his grave. It had been over two years since the day he was finally defeated but the nightmares brought him back to life for me every night. His cold, snake-like face still smirked evilly at me when I closed my eyes. This was my punishment. I'd made all the wrong choices and now I had to live with this nightmare. No matter how much I tried to make up for my mistakes.

A snow white owl snapped me out of my thoughts as it dropped The Daily Prophet on my desk. There on the cover was a black and white photo of myself, smiling and waving. Right after the war, my family name had been destroyed. The Malfoy name drug me down to the place where my father deserved to be, but I was convinced I did not deserve the same respect. When my parents fled the country for some beach paradise far away, they left me most of the family fortune, the house and all their property. Instead of hoarding my money and being an insufferable prick like my father had been, I decided to do the right thing. Rebuild the things I had had a part in destroying. The wizarding world was a mess and I had the means to help.

First I had helped restore Hogwart's to it's former glory. Sure at first nobody wanted to so much as hear my name but McGonagall had accepted my help. She'd assured everyone that any help the school could get was desperately needed. Next was Diagon Alley, where I had bought several of the shops who's owners had been killed and hired new people to run them. As the world slowly came back together I found that people no longer looked at me with disgust. It was a nice feeling. It hadn't just been my way of clearing my name. Spending all of that money and time had given me something to focus on. A purpose. Most would have thought of me as a heartless, cold man but to be quite honest, I still didn't know what kind of man I was.

I'd never expected any reward or recognition for what I had done. So it came as a surprise to me when the Minister of Magic himself contacted me, requesting my presence at the ball he was throwing to celebrate the restoration of the wizarding world. I was to receive a reward at this party, which is why my photo and a two page article were gracing the pages of The Daily Prophet this morning. With a sigh, I turned the paper over, not wanting to look at my fake smile. Even though the wizarding world had forgiven me, I still could not.

• • •

As I stared at myself in the mirror, I sighed. The only good thing about this morning so far was that I had managed to tame my unruly hair into a perfect chignon. This was quite the accomplishment considering my honey blond locks had a mind of their own. I didn't have time to dwell on how displeased I was with the outfit I'd taken over an hour to choose. Nervous didn't even begin to describe how I felt. Kingsley Shacklebolt had appointed me as his personal assistant. I'd spent the last two years working in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. My devotion to my position and Kingsley's knowledge of how great I was at what I did had landed me the job when his previous assistant resigned. I was surprised and flattered to be appointed.

As I entered the Ministry and made my way to Kingsley's office, I tried to prepare myself for my first day in my new position. I'd wound myself up so tight over the weekend that I felt insanely tense which didn't help with focusing on the task at hand. _Okay, stay calm. You can do this Hermione. You helped defeat the most powerful wizard in the world. Surely a bit of secretary work won't throw you off. _I thought as I stepped out of the elevator. A flock of memo's followed me out onto the floor and took off in the directions of their respective owners. One in particular kept flitting around my head threatening to destroy my perfect hair. I snatched it quickly and the small note laid flat in my hand. Scrawled in familiar handwriting was a small note that made me smile and relax a bit.

_**Hermione,**_

_**Don't be nervous, you'll do great.**_

_**Best wishes from Molly and myself.**_

_**- Arthur Weasley**_

Even though things between Ron and I hadn't worked out, his family still loved me like I was their own daughter. Once a month I joined them for dinner, like clock work. Ron hadn't been fond of me still hanging around after I'd broken things off with him but he eventually got over it. It was strange how I'd loved him so much before he was mine but once I had him it had seemed so different than I imagined. In the end, his friendship meant more to me than anything else so I'd saved us both any further heart ache and ended it. He acted childish for a while but I had expected that from him. After all, I knew him better than most people.

"Good morning, Kings – uhm, Minister." I stuttered, as I entered the lavish room that would be my office. It was located right outside Kingsley's office. On the dark wooden desk sat a small black name plate with golden letters that read: Hermione Granger, Assistant to Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic. Reading it gave me a sense of pride. The room was decorated with shades of purple and rich dark wood with hints of gold. It was fancier than I had expected but I would not complain. The rich purples were a beautiful touch.

"Kingsley is just fine, Hermione. We are old friends, surely there is no need for the formalities." Kingsley said with a comforting smile. He'd been discussing something with an auror who made his leave when I entered. "Now, come and get comfortable. I have a fairly important task for you to handle this morning." He placed his arm around my shoulders and led me to my desk before waving his wand to summon the Daily Prophet and place it on the desk in front of me. There on the front page waving and smiling at me was Draco Malfoy. He'd been doing a lot of things to help put the community back together. Rumor had it he was to be honored. "I need you to make sure this celebration is prepared for tomorrow night. Almost everything is taken care of but I need you to make sure that the rest of the slackers I put to work on it actually did their jobs. This celebration is a big deal, sort of a new beginning for us and I want it to be perfect. Also, please make sure that all of the awards are in order. I've left you a list of names of those being honored. Make sure there are trophies for them all." He paused and took a breath. "I'm sure you don't need me to sit here and ramble. It's all in the folder there, I'm sure you can figure it out. I'm glad to have you by my side, Granger."

"Glad to be here." I replied with a small smile as he retired to his office. He wanted me to make sure his party would be perfect. That was my first duty? I chuckled as I opened the file and read through all the specifics. _Looks like I'll need to buy a dress._


End file.
